Study says Spacefaring worms live longer than earth-bound ones

Spaceflight appeared to genetically alter C. elegans worms in a way that prolonged their lifespan.

Loading ...

Counter-intuitively, muscle in space may age better than on Earth. It may also be that spaceflight slows the process of ageing."
Dr Szewczyk of the University of Nottingham

A team of British and Japanese researchers has found that worms undergo genetic changes and live longer when they are taken to space.
Scientists studied a number of Caenorhabditis elegans worms which were carried aboard a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and brought back.
According to the study published in Scientific Reports, the activity of five genes was reduced in the worms, leading to longer lifetimes
"It would appear that these genes are involved in how the worm senses the environment and signals changes in metabolism in order to adapt to the environment," said Dr. Szewczyk of the University of Nottingham.
"Most of us know that muscle tends to shrink in space. These latest results suggest that this is almost certainly an adaptive response rather than a pathological one.
"Counter-intuitively, muscle in space may age better than on Earth. It may also be that spaceflight slows the process of ageing."
The team also found that muscles of the well-travelled worms exhibited less polyglutamine aggregates, tangles of protein that accumulate in muscles as animals age.
The nematode C. elegans is among the world's most-studied animals which have been routinely taken on space missions to help study the biological changes that future human spacefarers may face.
TE/TE